Friday, October 7, 2011

The Blatant Use of Mud-Luscious Words

It's started to happen. I'm beginning to prefer e-books, and the second biggest reason - second only to portability - is that little feature Sharon mentioned on Wednesday: the embedded dictionary. In fact, when I read an analog book I often find myself tapping a word on the page, hoping the definition will pop up. It never does.

I love it that so many people have book readers on their cell phones and tablets. I'm delighted beyond words to know that Kindles fly off the shelves like rockets, when - at least until November - all they are good for is reading books. To me, that's pure sunshine.

But there is darker news, and I'm not sure how to reconcile it with the sunshine. My country (and maybe the world?) is forgetting how to read and write. I'd felt this to be true before I wrote this post, because I've met people whose job it is to teach college students to read. But conscience demands that I back my claim with data, so I looked it up: The SAT college-entrance exam scores for the 2011 high-school graduating class have revealed the lowest reading and writing levels they ever recorded. Ever recorded. Here's the picture:

I agree with Sharon when she says that we should write in language that is accessible to our readers.* That's an old rule. My teacher in high school journalism taught that we should write at an eighth grade level, since that is the level most find easy to follow without explanation.

But when I see this graph, I wonder if we will have to write at the fifth grade level next year, and the third grade level after that, until finally we are all writing "Pat the Bunny" and sending it off to editors.

When I see the graph, I want to sit astraddle the yellow line and rest a foot on the red one, before another human being slides off into inarticulate hell. I want to stack all those people single file on the up-slope, and I want - I want so much - to read to them:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe;All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe.

Hardly a word in the poem Lewis Carroll didn't make up, so at least at the time he wrote it, the dictionary wouldn't have helped.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!Beware the Jubjub bird, and shunThe frumious Bandersnatch!"

There's so much more to language than definition. There is rhythm (just like music) and texture and plain, pure fun.

He took his vorpal sword in hand:Long time the manxome foe he sought--So rested he by the Tumtum tree,And stood awhile in thought.

You can see them, can't you? The manxome foe, the Tumtum tree? Meaning needn't be serious. It comes out best when we play.

And as in uffish thought he stood,The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,And burbled as it came!

"Uffish" and "Tulgey," such wonderful words. Like mud-luscious, a word coined by e.e. cummings.

One, two! One, two! and through and throughThe vorpal blade went snicker-snack!He left it dead, and with its headHe went galumphing back.

You might be surprised how many words have been coined by writers. Did you know that Shakespeare invented "eyeballs?" Not the things themselves, but the word. Edward Spenser coined "blatant" in his poem “The Faerie Queene.” The list goes on and on.

I'll bet you thought "chortled" was one word Lewis Carroll didn't make up. But it did indeed make its first appearance in this poem. To those stacking up on the red line, I'd like to urge them to use language like a sculptor uses clay. Squish your fingers into them, feel the mud-luscious drip down your arms. Write with beautiful words, and horrid words and repulsive words, and if your reader needs to look them up once in a while, let him tap the page.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe;All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe.

Read any uffish words lately, any beamish turns of phrase? Please share them with us. We love to read what frabjous things you have to say.

* And I agree without reservation that we should spare the reader the language common only to Evangelical church-goers. Christianese is jargon, and it's rude to talk jargon in public.

11 comments:

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack. What a great line! Feels like I have a mouthful of marbles when I say it. His words are chewy and stay on your tongue for a long time. I will find myself repeating it (silently) off and on all day.

What a great post, Katy. Troubling data mixed with such lyrical language. I'm amazed time and again when I get a note or email from someone who can't spell or use punctuation correctly. It's more than laziness, it's a complete lack of knowledge. In my opinion, our education system has failed to teach the basics for at least one generation, maybe two. I so wish we would go back to what worked.

Lugubrious. I love that word so much! It sounds exactly like it means, and I often wish I could describe more things as lugubrious...or lugubriously. So much more interesting than gloomy. And scabrous. Isn't that a lovely one? The scabrous walls of the hut. Why say rough and bumpy when you can say scabrous?

Thanks, Katy, for letting me read one of my favorite poems again this morning!

May I share another, by Ogden Nash? If you have children or grandchildren, you'll want to share this whimsical tale with them. If you have no little ones around, read it aloud and let it roll off your tongue. :-)

Oh, you've got some of my famous poems going on here, Kathleen. I recognized mud-luscious immediately, and have also read The Jabberwock (not to be confused with the Jabberwockys, a hip hop dance group we also love, lol) many times.

I actually, I remember reading somewhere that many of the words in Jabberwock actually are real words, just old or obscure.

Have a delightful time with this poem every year with my high-school students.

As an 11th grade English teacher for the past 23+ years, I am troubled by the decline in reading and writing and the collateral damage...which leads to sentences like: "Frugal me, frugal me. I'm drowning."

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